A Very Jaguar Christmas (8 page)

“Yeah, my sister and brother didn't want to do it this year. They said they were too old. But I'm a big helper this time.” Lacy was still tiny for her age. She looked about the size of the four-year-olds, and she had a heart of gold.

Mary squeezed Lacy's hand. “A real angel. Come on, let's help Heidi. Good luck, and let me know what happens with the boy.” Mary gave Everett a hug.

He gave her one back and a kiss on the cheek.

Lacy let go of Mary's hand and gave him a big hug too. He smiled down at her, hugged her back, and since she looked like she was expecting one, he gave her a kiss on the cheek too. Then she appeared to be waiting for Everett to give Demetria a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Demetria felt her cheeks burning, especially when she recalled Everett
had
given her a kiss on her cheek—last night when she was a little bit tipsy. Even his mom waited for a moment to see if he'd do it.

He only smiled at Demetria.

When he didn't give Demetria a hug, his mom said, “Glad you're helping Everett with this, Demetria.” Then Mary took Lacy's hand and hurried back down the hallway to take care of the jaguar kids, the door to the hallway locking behind her.

“Where is Maya's home?” Demetria asked Everett as she rummaged through the bag the woman had left with the boy. “Just a blanket with sheep on it and the boy's clothes. No ID.”

“Maya and her husband live near Houston, over a three-hour drive from here. She helps to run a garden shop and nursery with her brother and his mate. Her husband, Wade Patterson, is also a JAG agent.” Everett pulled out his cell phone and called his half sister. “Maya, what do you know about the wolf pup at Mom's day care?” He paused and listened, then said “All right” and hung up the phone.

“What did she say?”

“She said it was too risky to talk about this over the phone. Do you want to take my car or yours?”

Not about to go any further with this if it was all a hoax, Demetria crossed her arms over her chest. “Prove to me that the wolf pup is a shifter.”

Everett's eyes rounded a bit. “Hell, Demetria. I thought you believed us. I would have immediately shown the video of him shifting to you.”

Then she felt a little guilty. Yet, until she saw real proof, she just couldn't envision it was true.

“Here, take my phone and look at the video.” He fished his phone out of his pocket while juggling the wolf pup on a hip. “When he shifted the second time in front of me, I had put him on the floor and was taking a picture of him to send to my boss. Then he shifted, so I caught it on video. Or at least the blurring of forms like when we shift. It helped because I have both the boy and the pup in one video while he shifted.”

She looked at the video and couldn't believe it. “Unreal.” She wanted to say it was an elaborate ruse, that somehow he had Photoshopped it. But she had seen the way artists took animal forms and changed them into other forms, humans even, and it wasn't anything like how the jaguar kind really appeared when they shifted. The boy looked like he shifted just like their kind, except he turned into a wolf.

With Mary Anderson seeming so flustered, the corroborative video, and the fact they had a wolf pup at a jaguar-cub day care, Demetria was coming to believe that the story had to be real. Yet, the notion that other shifters existed was so unreal that it still seemed unimaginable.

“Okay, we'll take my car then. I've got a car seat for emergencies. While he's a wolf pup, you can just hold on to him. He seems to like you anyway, even if you are a big, scary jaguar cat.”

Everett chuckled. “He thought I was a safe bet when the jaguar cubs were trying to claw at him. But maybe we should take my car and just transfer the car seat.”

“Looks to me like you're doing just fine with him. We'll need a leash, crate, collar, and clothes, snack food, something for him to drink, water bowl, dog bed, puppy food, and more. I've got a few things for jaguar cubs we can use, but not everything we'll need for the wolf pup. I'll leave you off at your place because you won't be able to drive and handle the pup, and then I'll pick up the necessary items. We should each pack a bag in case Maya's information leads anywhere and we have to stay overnight or longer somewhere else. I wasn't…prepared for this. I thought it was a joke.”

“I don't blame you. But I really did think you believed us. I thought someone had played a prank on my mom at first too. I still can't believe it. I'll call Maya and tell her we'll be there as soon as we can. I can leave my car at the day care for a day or two. Or my sister and mom can move it back to my town house when they have a moment. Tammy's got a spare key for it.”

Demetria reached over and ran her hand over the wolf pup's head. He opened his amber eyes and licked her hand, his tail wagging. “We'll need a name for him.”

“White Fang,” Everett said without hesitation, then headed outside with the pup.

Demetria unlocked the doors, and Everett climbed into the passenger seat.

Tossing the boy's bag in the back of the car, Demetria rolled her eyes. “He's not a scary wolf. I'll think up a name until he shifts and can tell us his own name.” She sighed. “Everett, about last night…”

He smiled. “If I hadn't gotten the frantic call from Mom early this morning, I would have hung around your place and fixed you breakfast. Or something for a hangover if you'd needed it.”

She chuckled. “I'm almost glad you got the call so you didn't see me fall out of bed this morning. But thanks for coming over and taking care of the mess. I wanted to say thank you.”

“You challenged me to do it.”

“I did?”

“Yep, and I always accept a challenge.”

She smiled, glad he hadn't been trying to get back at her with some silly boy-turned-wolf story this morning. “Thanks for thinking of me when you needed help with this.”

“You were the only one I knew who could deal with this.”

“Howard?”

Everett laughed. “He wasn't interested in handling a teen. A four-year-old? I'm sure he would have begged off on this one.”

“I don't know. The wolf pup would probably have softened Howard around the edges a little.” Then she got on the phone link in her car and called her boss. “Okay, sir, the boy
is
a wolf shifter. Everett will send you the video of him shifting. After we pick up some things for the boy, we're headed south to Houston to see Everett's half sister who might know something about this. Not sure. We might be staying overnight there. I'll keep you posted.”

“I'll let the other directors know what you've discovered, and they can disseminate the information. Has anyone gotten ahold of the boy's mother?” Ben asked.

“No. The woman who dropped him off didn't wait to check him in and didn't leave any name for the boy or any ID for herself. Looks like she was trying to get rid of him, but in a safe place. The boy said his mommy and daddy were coming for him. But the chances that a wolf mother would allow a human to drop off her wolf son at a day care and then shift would be pretty much nil, in my book. No way do we believe the parents were coming to get him.”

“I agree. What is the boy's approximate age?”

“About four, sir,” Demetria said.

Everett said, “Sir, the boy has shifted a couple of times already. So I would think if they're anything like us, the mom's alive. But don't you think it would be better if someone with the Guardian branch took him in while we search for his family?”

Demetria was surprised Everett would include her in the searching part if the boy wasn't going with them.

“No,” Ben said. “You'll need to have him with you so we can make sure he recognizes his family when you locate them, and no telling where this will lead you. If you have the boy with you, they can see you're only trying to return him to the family. If he's with a large wolf pack and you only claim to have him, it could be dangerous.”

Everett looked at Demetria. “Then I need another JAG agent or Enforcer with me, not a Guardian.”

Demetria appreciated Everett's concern for her welfare, but no way was she being left out of this. Not now that she knew it was for real.

“She's trained in combat for any situation. You can't take care of the boy on your own. And she's good at dealing with families in crisis. Keep me informed.” Then her boss ended the call.

“Mission impossible?” Demetria asked.

Everett was frowning. “I really don't like the idea of you getting involved if we have to deal with an angry wolf pack.”

“You heard my boss—we're a team. I can't imagine a wolf pack being angry with us when we're trying to return their child to them.”

“Unless we have the issue of dogs versus cats when we locate his pack. What if we don't find his parents?”

“Then we might be spending this Christmas opening presents with junior. Two jaguars and a wolf pup. Can you imagine?”

Everett stared at her for a moment. Then he smiled. “Yeah. We can do that.”

She smiled back. “But surely we'll locate the parents before then. Besides, it'll be easier passing him off as a puppy than if the roles were reversed and we were wolves suddenly saddled with a jaguar shifter cub. But truly? I wouldn't mind. How about we call him Snowflake?”

“The wolf pup? No way. He's a guy, and you'd emasculate him with a name like that.”

“He's a cute little wolf pup. Snowflake is not feminine. It's just…white, like snow.”

“He'd be called a flake. How about Junior?”

She laughed. “Okay, we'll call him Junior.”

She pulled into Everett's town-house complex and then under his carport. “See you in a couple of hours.”

He didn't look panicked, just little unsure of his new Guardian role of being in charge of a wolf pup.

“Uh, yeah. The sooner, the better.” Then with the wolf pup under one arm and the boy's bag slung over his other shoulder, he headed for the back gate.

She smiled at the sight of the big jaguar with the little wolf pup, thinking she really wanted to date Everett if he was finally ready to date her. She was sorry about getting so emotional over the movie the night before last. But she'd had fun with Tammy too. She chuckled, hoping Tammy felt okay after drinking and staying up so late. Demetria vaguely remembered Everett warning her what would happen if Tammy didn't made it to work on time in the morning.

That showed what a decent brother he was. She smiled again, backed out of his parking space, and headed for town to do some shopping, hoping they'd find the parents quickly. She worried how that would turn out too. How would the wolf shifters react when they learned that jaguar shifters existed, and that they had one of their own?

For better or worse, this would be one Christmas to remember.

Glad Demetria appeared to be fine after the rough night she'd had, Everett was even gladder that she was working with him on this mission. As soon as he was in his tiny backyard, he put the pup down on the grass. The pup lifted his chin and smelled the air, then poked his nose in the grass and breathed in all the scents there. A yellow leaf blowing around on the grass caught his eye, and just like a jaguar cub would, he pounced on it. Then the pup squatted and Everett was glad he was housebroken enough to realize he had to pee outside when he was a wolf pup. At least jaguar cubs could use a litter box indoors if they had to.

Everett unlocked his back door and let the puppy into his town house. He hoped his place was puppy proof enough. He hadn't ever considered the trouble a puppy could get into if he was still teething.

What bothered Everett most about the boy's case was that the mom had shifted back and forth so frequently. He wondered if she was newly turned and didn't have much control over keeping her human form. He glanced up at the morning sky where the full moon was still visible. The phases of the moon didn't affect jaguar shifters, but according to the legends he'd heard, it affected werewolves. Were the tales true then? That would be good. Once the full moon waned, maybe the pup couldn't turn into a wolf again until the next full moon. Surely by then he'd be with his family again.

Everett closed the door and headed for his bedroom. Then he had a brilliant thought. At his age, the boy should be able to tell Everett his name and who his parents were. Maybe even where he lived. The woman had dropped him off here in Dallas, so wasn't the boy likely to be from the area? If so, wouldn't he and Demetria be nearer to the boy's parents here than in Houston? Maybe not, if he'd been stolen from somewhere else and brought here.

Everett hated having to take the boy over three hours south if the trip wasn't necessary. He was getting ready to call his boss to let him know his plans when Martin called him.

“I hear you have taken on a priority mission over the holidays,” Martin said.

“Yeah. Talk about a surprise call from my mom. And you got the call from Ben Knight?”

“Yeah, the Guardian director said you have the case of the century to work on. He sent me the video. I suspected you had your hands full and that's why you didn't contact me first. I could put someone else on the case, but because the boy was left off at your mom's day care, you were the first one on the scene. Everyone else has a case or some other important mission anyway, so I know you're the right one for the job. I'm going to need a new team of agents who deal with multiple shifter situations. Forget working strictly with a mixed force of jaguar agents. This will take priority if we end up having more cases like this. Want to head up the team?”

“You're joking.”

“You know I never joke. Or…rarely. You would be the first to deal with a case like this. And on-the-job-training like this is invaluable.” Martin paused. “So the video looks real.”

“It is. No joke about this.”

“I'll alert our people. It's bad enough when our own kids go missing, but wolf-shifter kids we didn't even know existed? It puts all of us—them and us—in even more danger.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Is he still a wolf?”

“Yeah. I think it's because of the full moon.”

“Hell, I'll have to read up on werewolf lore so I know more about what we're dealing with. Who would have thought any of it was real! So what's your next move?”

Everett packed a bag while he told the director what he intended to do. “But I keep thinking that the family might be in the area, and I'd hate to take him that far away when we might be better off trying to locate them here. We could possibly locate the woman who had dropped him off at the day care and learn where she picked him up.”

“Whatever needs to be done, it's your call. I'm letting everyone in the branch know about your circumstances and telling them to spread the message. If anyone runs across people who smell like wolves, they might be actual shifters, not just someone who owns a wolf or wolf dog or works with them. Maybe we'll get lucky and discover the parents or a wolf pack in the Dallas area who know something about a missing boy.”

“Oh hell.”

“What?” Martin asked.

“I was at the mall shopping yesterday with Demetria—” As soon as Everett said it, he figured he shouldn't have mentioned shopping with the agent. He didn't want to give the impression he was dating her unless he actually was. “Well, some kid nearly ran into me with a gooey candy cane, and I thought I smelled wolf on him. Same with the mom. She had triplets.”

“Can you remember what they looked like?”

“Yeah. I'll give our sketch artist the details when I get back. I just thought the family was raising a wolf dog. But they smelled like wolves and the boys were triplets.”

“Sure as hell sounds like we might have a pack of werewolves in Dallas then. Who would have ever thought? Once you get the sketches drawn, we can circulate them and set up surveillance at the mall. If the woman shops there regularly, maybe we can question her in case she knows about a missing Arctic wolf child. Not only that, but we might catch the scent of other wolves at the mall.”

“Sounds like a good plan.” Everett was feeling better about the case already. Not only because Demetria was working on it, but because they might have found the pack living practically on their doorstep. “I still believe the boy must have been stolen, and then the woman changed her mind about keeping him or selling him or whatever.”

“Certainly sounds that way. Good luck, Everett, and keep me posted.”

“Thanks, sir. Will do.”

Everett had barely gotten off the phone when his sister called. “Ohmigod, this can't be for real. Mom called me and said you have the wolf pup. And Demetria's helping with the case.”

“I do. Believe me, it's real. How are you feeling? After last night?”

“Fine. Thanks for waking me this morning. I would never have woken on my own. As soon as I'm off, I'm going to bed. Umm, you might not want to mention to David that I was at Demetria's house partying last night. He doesn't mind that I do. But he would be concerned if he learned my brother had to take care of me this morning. How's Demetria doing?”

“She seems to be fine. It's been kind of hectic since I got the call from Mom about the wolf pup. I wasn't able to stay and fix Demetria breakfast or see her before I left.”

“This pup situation is worse than Huntley having to take care of jaguar cubs in the jungle while trying to locate their kidnapped parents. At least with that one, everyone back home was asking around to learn if any family had gone to that part of the world at that time. With wolf shifters that we didn't believe existed? That's going to be impossible. I'm training JAG students right now; just taking a break. But at lunchtime, can I come by and see him?”

“Demetria is picking up some supplies, and then we're taking him down to the Houston area to see Maya.”

“Why can't she come here instead? Don't tell me. Between helping out with the twins and working the holiday season at the nursery, they can't break away from the business for that long. But…” Tammy paused.

“What?”

“Umm, nothing. Demetria loves kids. Good luck.”

“What, Tammy?”

“Okay, she told me this in secret, but you're my brother and you wheedled it out of me. Demetria's father's back in town. I thought she'd stay close to make sure her mom was okay.”

“Is her father abusive? Threatening her mother in any way?” Hell, what next?

“I don't know. All I know is that despite Demetria working at her job as usual, she's still concerned about her mom. Demetria is really secretive about her family. I've known her and her mother for a couple of years, but in all that time, I've only seen her father once. Demetria was always over at our house, but one time she invited me to her place. Her dad was supposed to be out with his friends.

“When I got there, he was still there. He had a hard, scowling face and didn't like that she was having anyone over. Even though I gave him a hard look right back, I'll admit I felt chilled to the bone. He slammed the door and headed out to the pub to meet up with some friends. Then he split and Demetria didn't see him again. She and her mother were so relieved. So anyway, I just wanted to warn you that if she seems distant or distracted, it might be because her dad's in town and she's worried about her mother.”

“Thanks for telling me.”

“Yeah, but don't you dare tell her I said anything about this. She won't share anything with me anymore, but I worry about her and her mother.”

Hell. No way did he want Demetria to come with him to see Maya if she was worried about her mom. Truth be told, he wanted to take care of her dad for her by chasing him right back out of town.

“So what's the deal with Maya?” Tammy asked.

“She's keeping secrets. Hey, got to let you go. The pup's exploring. Don't want him chewing stuff up or leaving anything behind that I have to clean up. But I'll send you the video of him.” The directors would be sharing it with everyone pronto, but Everett knew Tammy would love to see it first.

When she got the video, Tammy laughed. “He's adorable. If I didn't know he had parents who have to be desperate to get him back, I'd want to keep him. This is too unreal. Okay, got to go. Tell me what you learn as soon as you can—and what our sister is keeping from us too.”

“Will do.” Everett hung up and headed down the hallway calling, “Hey, pup. Come!”

The pup came running out of the bathroom, the end of a roll of toilet paper in his mouth and the rest of the roll trailing back to the bathroom as he greeted Everett.

“No, no.” Everett tore off the toilet paper, carried the rest back into the bathroom, and stuffed it on top.

The puppy was right behind him, wagging his tail.

Everett couldn't be annoyed with him, knowing he was just like a curious, playful jaguar cub of that age, so he scooped the puppy up and carried him into the living room. He sat on the couch, making the puppy stay on his lap, and then called Maya. “Listen, I want to know what you wouldn't tell me at the day care. I don't want to make the long trip down there for nothing.”

“It's not for nothing, and I'm not sharing over the phone, Everett, so don't ask.”

“Does your mate know?”

“No, so don't try to go around me on this. Do you have a picture of the puppy?”

He took a quick picture and sent her that and the one of the boy shifting.

“Aww, he so adorable.”

“Yeah, but he'd be a lot cuter if he was with his family. I hate to think what they're going through over this.” At least Lacy's parents had known she was with the kidnappers and a jaguar team was tracking them. But the wolf pack? Though Everett imagined they were searching for the boy too, they wouldn't know what had happened to him or that a team like theirs was taking good care of him while searching for them.

“Unless…”

“They're dead,” he said. “But the mother can't be. The cub wouldn't be able to shift into his wolf form. That is, if they're like us.” He kept thinking the wolves were nearly identical to the jaguars in shifting behavior, but what did they really know about it? Nothing.

“Okay, that's good news. We'll see you in about three and a half hours. Are you staying the night?”

“Might be.”

“Are you coming with someone? Who's taking care of the pup?” Maya asked.

“Demetria MacFarlane is coming from the Guardian branch.”

“Oh good. Do you need two rooms or one?”

“Two.”

“Okay, see you in a little while.”

After they said good-bye, Everett carried the pup into his bathroom. Everett packed his shaving kit and put it in his overnight bag with his clothes. Then he found an old, clean rag in his rag box and carried everything into the living room. While he waited for Demetria, he played tug-of-war with the pup. He just hoped the pup wouldn't try this on his clothes later.

An hour later, the doorbell rang and the pup began barking and ran to the back door.

Everett had never owned a dog, so everything the puppy did amused him. Jaguars were so quiet. They'd go to see who had arrived, but they'd do it silently.

Everett let Demetria in. “I just called Maya to let her know we might need to stay the night.”

“Two rooms, right?”

“Yeah. You and the pup can have one of them.”

She smiled. “The way the two of you are bonding, I thought he'd want to stay with you. I was in such a rush that I didn't have a chance to use the bathroom. Do you mind?”

“No, go ahead.”

He grabbed his bag and carried it out to the car, leaving the pup in the yard for a moment to do his business if he needed to again. Then he realized that if the puppy had an accident, they'd need some cleanup supplies.

He glanced at the town house. He wanted in the worst way to ask Demetria about her mother and her father. He wished he could take care of her father himself. In any event, he wanted to have someone look after her mother without upsetting Demetria.

She came out of the house wearing a half-amused expression.

“Did you get paper towels, trash bags, and rug cleaner, or whatever else we might need to clean up accidents?” Everett asked.

She smiled. “Yeah. We're good. I think I thought of everything. Umm…but…did you have some trouble with the toilet paper?”

For a moment, he didn't know what she was talking about. Then he chuckled. “Was it a little wet? Too many teeth marks in it?”

“The wolf pup?”

“Yeah. I don't usually chew on the paper.”

She smiled. “I'm glad that's the only reason it was wet and all bunched up on top of the paper holder.”